Blog – Page 34

Hello world.

05/19/2015 by Holly

A couple weeks ago I had a total God moment.

Both the bitties and I were standing at one of the raised beds, while Bitty E skillfully instructed us on how to plant sticks in them. Right then this beautiful ladybug landed not a foot in front of us. You know the kind—vivid red, large black spots…the kind they paint on the walls of nursery school hallways. I jumped right into my little lesson on how they eat aphids and that protects the plants, and then she flew away.

Then Bitty G proceeded to eat some dirt, Bitty E to pitch a fit because we weren’t planting sticks to her specifications and *poof* the moment was gone.

And it was almost lost on me.

Only by grace I was later reminded of the scene and the sweetness of it washed over me. As simple as it sounds that was exactly what I wanted to do. Teach my girls something practical about God’s world in a real-life scenario. Yes, this is a big project, and yes, it’s totally my style to get myself in over my head, but may this be the first of many, many God moments next to my girls, in the garden.

There are no misplaced ladybugs.

Due to a long list of random stuff this blog has been up but not live for a couple months now. And over that time I’ve had the “this is dumb” or “why am I doing this again?” thoughts more times than I can count. But then I sit down and write a post…and I feel like a person who doesn’t change diapers and pick up the 90 piece plastic fruit 100 times a day.

So this is for me. And when it stops being fun, I’ll stop.

{I suppose this blog is alternately titled hollyneedsahobby.com. But really, who wants to type that address into their browser.}

I sure have learned a lot–setting it up has somedays made me feel like this:

{oh how we love this show…”halt and catch fire” in case you don’t recognize…}

when the true reality is more like this:

{That’s not me, but really, what’s the diff.}

In summation: hey, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ll enjoy what you find. You can old-fashioned scroll just like any blog, or there are links in the right sidebar or the top sidebar to take you to specific topics.

So all that to say, I’m still figuring things out! Your suggestions are highly welcome. Happy spring!

I told you they speak to me

05/19/2015 by Holly

My favorite nursery had a big sale.

It was just like heaven except no one brought me a Cheerwine.

{This was not the half off table. I wish.}

I bought just as many plants for the patio as the last few years, for almost exactly half the price. Henceforth this summer’s display will be referred to as misfit patio.

I can’t wait to see how they do. I love watching them fight it out anyway, but these are scrappy fellows, so the brawls could be even more interesting.

For the birds

05/14/2015 by Holly

I’ve been thinking my tomato plants were looking a little spindly.

And I was dipping my toe into the hard fact that my tomato plants looked healthier in our old shotgun house whose side yard received exactly three hours of full sun per day without-fancy-brand-new-raised beds-that-the-husband-would-not-at-all-ever-question-why-we-built-just-to-grow-spindly-tomato-plants.

*sigh*

Then I walked in on the robber:

{I typed “angry blackbird” into the google image search, not even thinking…so let’s just pretend that I’m “with it” and realized this would clearly be an Angry Birds reference.}

A couple days ago I peered out the window of my husband’s home office JUST IN TIME, THANKS BE TO THE LORD to see a blackbird perched on my tomato cage. It hung out there for a second, and then proceeded to pluck some leaves off of the plant.

Yes, the plant I grew from seed.

I almost can’t talk about it.

Lo, it did not eat them. That would have been fulfilling some circle of life mantra I likely possess and I would have sung Hakuna Matata and moved on with my day. But no. It did not consume. It plucked them off and dropped them at the bottom of the cage.

{Shakes head.}

I hopped on my computer and Amazoned some bird netting pronto, and then I went to the Google and typed “birds plucking leaves off tomato plants.” And guess what I found:

Yep, that’s him. {Or her.}

They are called red-winged blackbirds, and according to the lovely support forum I found, they do enjoy plucking the leaves off small tomato plants “until they get used to them being there.”

{!!!}

I don’t think there is room for another creature in my life who needs to be eased into new ideas. I’m all full up getting the ones I have to try some fresh carrots or please don’t unroll the entire roll of toilet paper just to get what you need.

So the bird netting is on the way. And I might need to be eased into the idea that this whole garden could wind up in a tent within two months time.

If you read one thing today…

05/08/2015 by Holly

Read this:

Matt B. Redmond’s “A Mother’s Day Sermon…If I Had to Preach One.”

Ants Be Gone

05/05/2015 by Holly

I love peonies and I’ve got the Pinterest board to prove it.

I stumbled across this trick years ago of drowning the blooms in cool water before you bring them inside. It makes all the little ants scramble to higher ground {out of the water/bloom which means they stay OUT of my house}.

Last Christmas we had an ant invasion just in time for my husband’s business open house. It was all hands on deck–we killed so many of them. Cause of invasion that time was bitty food left on bitty table.

It’s amazing how many of them will be inside of just one bloom. I had heard that they helped the many petals of a peony to open, but that appears to be an urban legend not dissimilar to the one where Mr. Rogers was a Navy SEAL and wears those sweaters to cover his tattoos. If you haven’t heard by now, I am very sad to report to you that this is untrue.